I met the then Prince Philippe several times in the early 2000, he also decorated me. Now very pleased to meet him and his lovely wife in Beijing. For me, in the over 30 years I am in Beijing I met 3 kings and queens, King Baudouin (and Queen Fabiola, with whom I had a long talk in 1981), the King Albert II (brother of Baudouin) (and Queen Paola), now King Philippe (and Queen Mathilde).
The reception was in Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on 24 June. We first passed Tiananmen where the Belgian flag was flying along the Chinese one. The King and his big delegation of officials and especially businesspeople are visiting Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. I must admire people like our King having the patience to greet so many people, all this during a grueling schedule. I wonder how they do this.

There were some 680 guests with tight security, little or no food but lots of Belgian beer.
In the delegation was also Foreign Minister Didier Reynders (I also met him years ago). And of course our Ambassador Michel Malherbe who is doing a great job with a permanent smile, along with his team that is working with little sleep…
I did not try to squeeze through the crowd to see the King for some seconds, I don’t like that so much. Anyway, I had the pleasure years ago to be with him many times. I preferred to take some pictures instead, meet old friends (Jan Hu, Bernard Dewit, Gwenn Sonck, …) and have a good beer. And of course many of the Belgian community in Beijing.
Also good to see again Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut, the Ambassador of the European Union to China and former Ambassador of Austria in Beijing – we met many times in the past. He was the only ambassador invited.

On 17 May Mr. Liu Jia, chairman and CEO of Jiamei Medicl Management Group organized a private concert in his mansion near the airport. He also played the piamo and invited the guests to sing along.
The concert featured: Peter Ritzen (pianist, composer, conduxtor), Stella Chang (soprano), Lorraine & Angelo Marenzi (soprano & tenor).
In the audience the ambassadors from Belgium and Canada and many of our friends.

The concert was wonderful as always and was followed by a buffet dinner.

Well, to be honest I am still trying to figure out the history of that building, as well as of the entire compound on 9 Chongwenmen West Street. The compound is a collection of historical buildings dating from before 1949. See the shot of the old picture of the compound.
The central and most important building is now the office of Ms. Wang Yili, see:
http://www.wangyili.com/yw/yw-sy.htm
Ms. Wang in involved is many organizations, including the China Charity Federation.
I was invited for a lunch along with my friend Peter Ritzen and his wife Stella. Peter found a piano in the dining room and promptly gave us a private concert. Also joined was the Chairman of of Jiamei Dental, Mr. Liu Jia, with whom we work closely.

The building kept its charms from a bygone era. As far as I understand (and might be wrong), another building of the compound that housed the Société Générale de Belgique and the bank (later Fortis) was the location of a Belgian bank before 1949; presumably called Banque Sino-Belge (later renamed to Banque Belge pour l’Etranger). I remember visiting that building in the eighties and looking at old pictures of thee bank before 1949. Checking Google it became more and more confusing as there is little clear information of what was the Belgian diplomatic presence before 1949. Apparently the Belgian Legation quarters were somewhere else close to Saint-Michaels Church, adding to the confusion.
Before 1949 Belgian companies were actually very active in the industry, railways and urban public transport. One company was ACEC, the company I represented in Beijing 1980 to around 1988. A Belgian-French group was involved in building major railway lines in China.

I have more than 100 members on the email list but OCH are busy people and attendance is overall unpredictable. This time we were around twenty but conversation is always lively, the least to say.

Next round is 3 July just before I skip away for a week to “cool down” in Thailand. The lunches will continue over summer, it does not mater if we are just a few. It is always fun!